19 April.  Ben Folds Five.  9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.

Whatever and Ever Amen, Ben Folds Five's 1998 seminal outing, likely goes as far as possible in capturing the live energy of this North Carolina trio.  Throughout the twelve tracks Whatever and Ever Amen hums along at 78 rpm complete with offstage asides and gritty lo-fi recording techniques (?).  It's yer classic garage rock band recording in, well, a garage.  Well, I thought that it was a good indication of their live sound until Wednesday night's 9:30 gig.

Dragging myself from my death bed - a mild to medium case of the flu - a similarly suffering JC and I climbed the stairs and squeezed in on the hard steps of the balcony.  We were treated to 45 minutes of girl punk power from Tracy Bonham.  I joked with JC about how Tracy has become the colloquial name in Britain for, want of a better word, slapper.  Sorry.  Bonham didn't impress me. I guess it is a guy thing, but these girl folkie/rocker acts do nothing for me.  She is from that Alanis Morrisette angry young thing school.  Morrisette's mannered vocals irritate me no end.  Bonham's whole act irritated me.  She saws away at the violin a bit.  There's a pretty helpful rhythm section going through the motions and a redundant keyboard player who looked like Ed Begley Jr.  Begley and the violin were pretty much absent from the front of house mix.  Apparently she writes creepy lyrics.  Frankly I couldn't care less.  She was so happy that her new CD had been released - on good behaviour no doubt.

A lot of humping on stage followed.  The roadies had to get the grand piano into position.  There was even a double bass brought on.  (It turns out for effect more than anything.  It weren't used.)

If you didn't know, the Ben Folds Five is a trio.  Now that seems pretty lame college humour don't you think?  Well, actually it's part of the perverse charm of BFF.  And, humour has a big part in BFF's oeuvre.  The "cute" teddy bear atop Folds' piano on Wednesday night added to the irony.

I mentioned the difference between live and on disk.  The important thing, of course, is that the studio version omits the backing choir of 200 or so student voices!  Without coaxing and without warning a third of audience, on key, on time and at volume chipped in from bar 1.  It was almost spooky, very "cute", but in the end a tad irritating.  (Yeah, I seemed a bit prickly this night.  Must have been the over-the-counter medication.)

Folds cranked away at the ol' Joanna, belted out lyrics of failed love affairs, scything pokes at college life, ROTC (army reserve) and the South.  Occasionally,  I could just see from my vantage point, he leapt up at times to belt home a particular line or piano phrase.  Robert Sledge, a dead ringer from Brit comic Rik Mayall, twangs away at fuzz bass and occasional keyboards.  Meanwhile, another lookalike (a night of lookalikes) Darren Jessee (unfortunate name that) keeps a steady beat at the back.  (He looks - from a distance - like veteran skins man - Yes, King Crimson, UK, Genesis et al - Bill Bruford.)  (Er, looking at their pics on the CD notes, I either need my eyes testing or the drugs really did kick in.)  Jessee made an interesting use of cymbals throughout the set.

Halfway through the gig, I thought to myself: Ben Folds, is he the Elton John of the Nineties?  They both belt out tunes, tinkle the ivories with aplomb and are losing their hair.  Okay, that's unfair.  For one, Folds writes his own witty, often caustic and cutting lyrics (John relies on Taupin and, god help us, Tim Rice).  BFF's songs are a continent away from the John/Taupin early work much of which was autobiographical.  Folds' lyrics seem more generic.  My trusty musicHound reference guide puts Billy Joel as an influence on BFF.  Huh?  I gotta disagree.  I tap Jools Holland/Squeeze as artists in a similar vain though I doubt Folds would acknowledge a direct influence.  Anyway, moot point.  Good band, good songs, good stage show.

Features of the 100 minute set included the "Regrets"/"Jane"/"Lullaby" suite from Reinhold Messner release.  Folds wound up crawling up on his piano and falling off.  There were the BFF standards from Whatever, "Fair" (a broken relationship) and "Kate" and the mocking "Steven's Last Night in Town".  Folds introduced "Video Killed the Radio Star" as "Internet killed the Video Star" - ho, ho.  I'd forgotten that BFF had covered this sugary, electronic Buggles hit from 1979.  Left off was "Brick" that little surprise hit about abortion.  Bet that goes down well in the Bible Belt.  (Double bass needed for this tune?)

Leaving after an exhilarating, well received gig I wondered  why BFF still play clubs like the 9:30 - capacity 898.  Surely, they should be packing 'em in at basketball arenas and supporting the likes of the Dave Matthews Band (gag!) at RFK - capacity 50,000 (lightning rods not included).  Actually I think they have backed big shows at big venues.  I hope they keep on playing the 9:30.  Especially when I'm ill so they can cheer me up, in a perverse sort of way.

Oh yes, in mid set there was a total waste of space song on which a fat hairy roadie (a tautology?) added a line or two of lyrics.  Drop this crap.  (Niggle, niggle.)

[P.S. - great quote from LG's girlie: every time he puts on Ben she says "why don't they go out and get a girlfriend?"]
 

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